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De Witt Clinton Spaulding (circa 1841 or 1842-1926) was a white Michigan resident who served in Company G. of the Union Army's 8th Michigan Infantry regiment during the American Civil War. Included in the collection is Spaulding's physical Civil War diary (which includes comments on his capture and confinement at Andersonville Prison), a transcription of the diary with additional information and images, digitized copies of Spaulding's military service and pension records, scattered physical correspondence and miscellanea, and a DVD-R containing related materials.

The De Witt C. Spaulding papers (0.1 linear feet and 42.5 MB) include scattered correspondence and miscellanea, digitized copies of Spaulding's compiled military service and pension records from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and Spaulding's diary. The physical diary—dated from 1861 to 1864—provides information about Spaulding's Civil War experiences, including his capture and confinement at Andersonville Prison. A digital transcription of Spaulding's diary by Clare M. Cory is also present in this collection. It contains additional biographical and genealogical information, as well as images of Spaulding and his relatives.

Finally, the collection includes a DVD-R containing a transcription of the diary with additional biographical information and photos.

This collection is made up of 6 letters that Davis Graham Moore wrote to his son Allen from 1882-1884 and in 1893. Moore's correspondence concerns his son's activities and studies at the University of Vermont, flooding in southern Illinois, family news, and the World's Columbian Exposition.

This collection is made up of 6 letters that Davis Graham Moore wrote to his son Allen in the late 19th century. He sent 5 letters to Allen, then a student at the University of Vermont, from October 31, 1882-January 26, 1884. He discussed aspects of Allen's collegiate life and activities, such as an altercation between members of different classes, his academic performance, and his involvement in a fraternity. He reminisced briefly about his own time at the university. Some of the letters pertain to Moore's work for the Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railway, particularly regarding the shipment of cotton, and to the flooding of the Wabash and Ohio Rivers in February 1883. His letter of January 26, 1884, mentions Allen's eponymous uncle, who had just received a Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig. Moore's final letter to his son, dated at Chicago, Illinois, on November 23, 1893, largely concerns the World's Columbian Exposition, including Moore's positive impression of the General Electric Company's displays and the vast numbers of visitors on "Chicago Day."

Donald G. Staebler was a farmer who worked on the Staebler Family Farm in Dixboro, Michigan. Staebler collected and preserved historical documents relating to the Staebler family. He used these records to write a history of the farm. The collection includes scrapbooks of photographs, correspondence, and other materials related to the family. Also included are Staebler's written notes and drafts of the farm's history.

The Donald G. Staebler papers contains his writings and research, as well as material documenting the Staebler Family Farm in Dixboro, Michigan. The first box holds four scrapbooks that includes photographs, newspaper clippings, and other collected records from members of the Staebler family. Within these scrapbooks are written histories of the farm and family to provide context for the documents.

The second box consists of additional collected family materials including diaries, correspondence, and other records related to members of the family like Helen Staebler Martin and Henry Staebler. This box also includes more of Donald Staebler's writings, and letters to his wife, Lena while he lived in England.

Binkowski was a district judge from Warren, Michigan who collected extensively about Democratic politics and the Polish American community in Michigan. The collection includes materials collected by Binkowski on Democratic politics, the Polish community in Michigan, the cities of Detroit, Warren, and Hamtramck, Michigan, and collected letters, postage covers, and stamps.

The collection includes materials collected by Binkowski on Democratic politics, the Polish community in Michigan, the cities of Detroit, Warren, and Hamtramck, Michigan history in general, and collected letters, postage covers, and stamps. Digital materials include video files and an archived website. Photographs include images of strike violence, 1934-1938, at various Michigan firms; photos of Polish American public figures and organizations, also photos of political meetings and elected officials. Audio cassettes mostly contain recorded interviews with Polish American political figures.

This collection documenting the history of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and of labor organizing in North America was assembled by Don Stewart, owner of the Vancouver bookstore MacLeod's Books since 1973. The collection is arranged into five series. Organizational Records comprise records of the central IWW administration, such as general convention minutes (1913-1969 with gaps), general executive boards letters and minutes (1959-1964), financial statements (1918-1944 with gaps), membership cards, and documents from the general defense committee relating to IWW prisoners during World War I. Reflecting the IWW's internal structure, Constituent Unions Records are organized by industrial trade numbers and include administrative documents and organizing literature. Constituent Unions Records also include a few folders relating to the Western Federation of Miners, which pre-dates IWW's founding in 1905 The Colorado Coal Strike Archive is a set of letters, telegrams between labor organizers, bulletins to workers, and other documents relating to the Columbine Mine Massacre of 1927. Topical Literature contains general ephemera by the IWW and literature related to the IWW and labor unions, including a transcript of the play "The Wobblies" by Ronald Weihs and a memorial booklet for Carlo Tresca. Finally, International Material contains foreign print materials about IWW or labor more generally. It also contains records and letters from the Canadian division of IWW in the Vancouver area, including letters from Fred Thompson and Pete Seeger.

Don Werkheiser was a teacher, writer, and philosopher-reformer active in the last half of the 20th century. He is best described as an individualist anarchist and libertarian. Most of his writings center on the philosophy of Mutual Option Relationship, which he developed and promoted throughout his life. It is multidisciplinary in its nature but based mainly on principles of equal rights and freedom of the individual. The eight linear feet of papers consist primarily of Werkheiser's writings (in the form of notes, drafts, and finished typescripts), correspondence with friends and colleagues, and related ephemera. A small number of photographs, materials documenting Werkheiser's interests and activities, and works by associates of Werkheiser are also present.

Don Werkheiser, like many of his peers, received little recognition for his ideas and efforts during his lifetime, even among the relatively small circle of individualist anarchists within which he interacted. The papers consist mainly of various iterations of his Mutual Option Relationship philosophy and methodologies for realizing it, as well as his thoughts on the numerous social, economic, and political problems that he saw in contemporary American society. There is also correspondence with friends and associates in his intellectual and ideological sphere. The ephemera in the collection--consisting of newspaper clippings; pamphlets; and extracts from periodicals, books, and monographs, are significant because of their subject area (mainly freedom of speech), their relative obscurity, and also Werkheiser's extensive annotations. These materials are supplemented by a very small number of photographs.

The Don Werkheiser Papers (8 linear feet) have been divided into six series: Writings, Correspondence, Other Activities, Works by Others, Photographs, and Ephemera. Originally included with the Don Werkheiser Papers was a large collection of books and pamphlets by Theodore Schroeder, an important influence on Werkheiser, as well as published works by other authors. These have been removed and cataloged separately.

There is a significant amount of material in the Don Werkheiser Papers having to do with Theodore Schroeder. In addition to championing free speech causes, Schroeder developed a system of psychological thought which he named "evolutionary psychology." He was also interested in erotogenic interpretations of religious practices, and his writings on this topic generated much controversy in his day. Werkheiser was profoundly influenced by evolutionary psychology and other areas of Schroeder's thought, especially his advocacy of free speech. This is indicated not only in Werkheiser's own writings, but also in his substantial files of material by and about Schroeder and in a small amount of correspondence between the two, and between Schroeder and others. (As a point of clarification, Schroeder's evolutionary psychology appears to be entirely unrelated to the discipline of the same name established by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby in the 1990s.)

There is also a substantial amount of material related to the School of Living (mainly the one in Brookville, Ohio) and the ideas associated with it: decentralism, cooperative living, monetary and tax reform, alternative education, permaculture, wilderness and farmland preservation, and the environment. Its founders, Ralph Borsodi and Mildred Loomis, are also well-represented in the collection--particularly Loomis, who was a close friend of Werkheiser's. (As another point of clarification, the School of Living's journal-newsletter, Green Revolution, is unaffiliated with--and even in direct ideological opposition to--the Green Revolution in agriculture begun in the mid-1940s that encouraged large-scale chemical applications as a means to boost agricultural productivity.)

Other important influences on or associates of Werkheiser represented in the collection are Georgism and Henry George (on which Werkheiser wrote extensively), Laurance Labadie, Ralph Templin, and Arnold Maddaloni. There is also some material by the science fiction writer Robert Anton Wilson.

The collection mostly documents Michigan railroads, focusing on the Ann Arbor Railroad Company (AARR), related lines, and its ferries in many formats. Also included are some organizational records of the Ann Arbor Railroad Technical and Historical Association (AARTHA).

Collection, collected over time by Don Wilson, some of which he was given by other rail fans. The collection mostly documents Michigan railroads, focusing on the Ann Arbor Railroad Company (AARR), related lines, its reorganization, abandonment, and its ferries. Some ferry information is general such as Twin Screw Specs (Box 5), and there is information specific to the M.V. [Motor Vessel] Viking (originally Ann Arbor No. 7) and the City of Milwaukee. Formats include slides, photographs, negatives, photograph printing plates, blueprints, scrapbooks, photograph albums, speeches, notes, newspaper clippings and magazine articles, maps, digital scans and positive prints from those scans, a CD, and miscellaneous, related publications. Also included are some organizational records of the AARTHA. Other railroads documented to various degrees in the collection include: Central Michigan Railroad (CM); Detroit, Caro and Sandusky Railroad (DC and S); Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton Railroad; Grand Trunk Railway (GT); Green Bay and Western Railroad; H and E Railroad [probably the Huron and Eastern]; Manistique and Lake Superior Railroad; Michigan Interstate Railway Company; Michigan Northern Railway Company; Mid-Michigan Railroad; New York Central Railroad (NYC) and St. Louis Railroad (SLRR); New York Central State Railroad (NYCS); Norfolk and Western Railway Company; Northwestern Pacific Railroad; Penn Central Railroad; Southern Pacific Transportation Company; Tuscola, Saginaw Bay Railroad (TSBRR); Toledo, Owosso, and Flint Railroad (TOandFRR); Wabash Railroad, and Wisconsin Central Railroad.

Items of special interest to researchers may include: manifests of the M.V. Viking, February-August 1976, and AARTHA bylaws, meeting minutes, newsletter information, member lists, and other information (Box 1); reorganization information (see Vincent M. Malanaphy folders (Boxes 2, 4), Michigan Interstate Railway Co. and MI Rail System Rationalization Plan information (Box 4), AARR photographs (Boxes 2-3), Pamona Derailment Negatives, undated (Box 5).

Photographs, negatives, and history of a plethora of railroad related topics are found throughout the collection. There are three slide boxes and two note card boxes full of slides on railroads (Slide Boxes 1-5).

Blueprints include line, lever circuit controllers, and station design plans, styling and painting design, system maps, tracks and structures, equipment, station and train car blueprints, and property drawings.

The 2016 addition, Boxes 14-16 and Folder #21 (legal-size), 1.5 cubic feet from Don’s friend Don Maddock was organized by Maddock into the series of Abandonment Petitions and Michigan Interstate Era. Included are paper documents, scans and positive prints of some of Wilson’s negatives, a few other topical files, a CD, and three color photographs. The addition largely documents the reorganization and end of the AARR. Sale papers for the City of Milwaukee are included. Most of the 2019 addition papers are copies. Note: 2016 addition negatives are housed in print file negative preservers, not archival negative sleeves.

Researchers may be interested in knowing that there are several collections and many publications by and about the Ann Arbor Railroad in the Clarke, as well as other collections and published sources documenting other railroad companies.

Processing Note: The collection is organized by size and format, and then in alphabetical and chronological order. A few publications, two general railroad films, and a tote bag were returned to the members of the AARTHA. Some publications (24), both monographs and parts of serials, were cataloged separately and added to the Clarke’s collections. Some of the items are quite acidic or fragile, most of which were photocopied and the originals were withdrawn from the collection (.25 cubic ft. total). In a few cases, where entire folders were composed of very fragile tissue paper records or acidic records, the decision was made to leave the materials as they were without copying them. Numerous abbreviations were used by Mr. Wilson within the collection, which were replicated by the processors. Michigan was often abbreviated MI by Mr. Wilson and is used in this finding aid. See the Scope and Contents Note for abbreviations used for names of railroad companies.

Collection of reports, Right Track Reports, manifests, and other materials documenting the history of the Ann Arbor Railroad Company and its car ferries.

The collection consists of Wilson’s typed reports, Right Track Reports, 1980-1981, and other materials, mostly originals, that he collected from various sources, mostly documenting the history of the Ann Arbor Railroad Company and its ferries. Most of these materials are various types of communications or regulations. The scrapbooks of newspaper clippings from various newspapers, 1962-1985, are acidic on black pages, and were originally housed in binders. The scanned newspaper clippings are largely the same information, but are in good condition. Most of the materials are in stable or good condition. Those that were acidic were photocopied.

The 2013 Addition consists of Car Ferry Manifest, Kewaunee Boat Landing, June-December 1975 (Boxes 7-8, .75 cubic ft.).

Researchers may be interested in knowing that there are several collections and many publications by and about the Ann Arbor Railroad in the Clarke, as well as other collections and published sources documenting other railroad companies.

This collection contains materials related to Brooks’ research for her book, A Certain Sadness: The Untimely Deaths and Family of David and Romie Hodell in 1920s Rural Newaygo County, Michigan. This research mainly involved Hodell family history, focusing on the people and events surrounding the murder of her uncle, Romie Hodell, and her grandfather, David Hodell.

This collection, 1882-2016, and undated, contains materials related to Brooks’ research for her book, A Certain Sadness: The Untimely Deaths and Family of David and Romie Hodell in 1920s Rural Newago County, Michigan. This research mainly involved Hodell family history, focusing on the people and events surrounding the murder of her uncle, Romie Hodell, and her grandfather, David Hodell. Included in the collection are genealogies, photographs, copies of newspaper articles and telegrams, correspondence between family members, CDs of oral histories, and research notes. With rare exceptions, most of the materials were created during the 2010s and are copies of primary sources. The sources themselves date from before the murder in the 1880s to the 1990s. Some original materials are the undated pay book of David “Hotel,” {Hodell] Nina “Hotel’s” [Hodell’s] The Royal Path of Life published in 1882, and the 1922 yearbook of Hollis Hodell. There are also materials in Box 2 and 3 that are copies from other libraries, such as the Bentley Historical Library.

The 2021 addition, 1 box, .5 cubic foot, 1967-2015, and undated, contains biographical materials about Brooks’ life from birth to retirement, 1939-2015. The addition begins with her memoir, A Small Town Girl’s Life and Times, which details her life from birth to early retirement and is composed of poems and short stories that Brooks has written. This addition also contains an unbound scrapbook detailing Brooks’ experiences in Austria studying flute at the Vienna Academy of Music in 1967. During her career Brooks’ spent time working as a teacher on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico. This folder contains photographs and short stories written by Brooks about her time as a teacher on the reservation. Notably, this folder contains drawings and a weaving project gifted to Brooks by her students. This addition also contains chapbooks, news articles and poems published by Brooks during her career. Most of the news articles (copies) were published by the Grand Rapids Press from 1980 to 1989. The chapbooks were published by Babbling Brooks Press and Finishing Line Press from 2011-2012 and 2015. There is a folder dedicated to Brooks’ watercolor paintings, photographs, letters and awards all done through her lifetime. Each folder in the addition contains photos taken by Brooks or of Brooks.

Processing Note: 3 cubic feet of materials, including duplicates, peripheral materials, and materials already in the archives, were removed and given back to the donor after processing. 3 Newago County history books were separately catalogued. One copy of the donor’s book, A Certain Sadnes…,2015, is included in Box 3 as per the donor agreement, and another copy is separately cataloged in the Clarke.